[BLOG] Some Friday links

• Bad Astronomer Phil Plait notes how data from Gaia may have at last nailed down the precise distance of Polaris from the Earth, at some 447 light years (more or less).
• Centauri Dreams notes the extraordinarily strong magnetic field of SIMP J01365663+0933473, a super-Jovian massing the equivalent of 12 Jupiters a mere 20 light-years away.
• D-Brief notes how the carbon fibre heat shield of the Parker Solar Probe will prevent this probe from burning up.
• Hornet Stories notes the bizarre controversy in LGBT twitter about out actor Ruby Rose playing Batwoman Kate Kane. I, for one, can’t wait to see what she brings to the role!
• io9 shares a touching interview with Ruby Rose talking about her childhood experiences with the Batman family and with bats and her happiness at being a role model as Kate Kane.
• Joe. My. God. links to an audio version of the Cher version of “Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)”, and it is glorious.
• Language Log shares photos of text in a Chinese restaurant in New York City that combines Chinese characters with the ampersand.
• Peter Rukavina shares stories about a tunnel that may once have connected 124-126 Sydney Street in Charlottetown, then home to the cloistered Sisters of the Precious Blood and now home to Gahan House, to the St. Dunstan’s Basilica.
• Arnold Zwicky continues his meditations on Montréal, concentrating on the works of Claude Cormier which include the 18 boules de gai in Monréal as well as the lovely HTO Park in Toronto.